Lutetium oxyorthosilicate (LSO), or Lu2SiO5 activated with cerium (Ce3+), is a well-known crystal scintillator material and widely used for medical imaging, such as gamma-ray detection in positron emission tomography (PET) as well as other applications. Due at least partly to its relatively high light yield and short decay time, LSO is considered to be one of the most suitable materials for molecular imaging applications specifically for time-of-flight PET (TOF PET).
LSO scintillators are typically made of single-crystal LSO grown from a melt using for example, the Czochralski process. For scintillator applications, it is often desirable to be able to grow large single-crystals of LSO with specific optical performance parameters. The size and quality of the grown crystals can be significantly affected by the growth stability.
While LSO scintillators in general have been well developed, efforts are on going to develop LSO scintillators with improved properties for specific applications.